The imaginarium of Ghulam Abbas

Panellists attempt to decipher the writer’s works by looking back at his life experiences.

KARACHI:

The short story writer Ghulam Abbas was remembered on Wednesday evening by the people who have critically inspected and appreciated his work. The event was held at Oxford University Press bookstore located off Tariq Road at Khalidbin Waleed road.

The talk, titled ‘Jazeera-e-Shukanwaran by Ghulam Abbas and Intikhab-e-Ghulam Abbas by Asif Farrukhi’, centered on Abbas’s work, life and personality with literary critics notably Asif Farrukhi and Rauf Parekh along with Abbas’s daughter Mariam Shera on the panel.

“Ghulam Abbas sahib considered French and Russian writers to be the real writers; he could relate to their thoughts and ways of writing more, as opposed to the American or English writers,” said Farrukhi.

Farrukhi further pointed out that in Abbas’s writings, one will see that he wants to suppress the mighty colonial powers. There is a prophetic vision in his work, which sees beyond everyone else. More than satire and humour, what is laden beneath is the irony of it all. He emphasised that Abbas’s work is profound and if it is intently read and understood, one will see how relevant it is for the situation in Pakistan today.

Ghulam Abbas’s daughter Mariam Shera on the panel. PHOTOS: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

“When people pass away, all that is left behind are their memories. I, too, have some cherished memories of my father,” said Shera. He enjoyed the company of his loved ones and would share ideas of his upcoming stories before penning them down, said the writer’s daughter. While quoting one of her brothers Kami, she said: “According to my brother, Abbas sahib was like a well and not a spring of water; you needed to dig deep down.”

Besides acknowledging her father as a perfectionist when it came to writing, she also appreciated how he had a great heart and knew how to keep his two wives and nine children happy.

“A great writer is one who thinks deeply and Ghulam Abbas was someone who spent time thinking about even the most trivial of things. He knew the art and craft of storytelling,” said Parekh, the other literary critic on the panel.

He then spoke about Abbas’s novella, Jazeera-e-Shukhanwaran, which is about a land of poets and listeners living on an island unaccustomed to the material world of earning pennies. “Just think about how vivid his imagination was. Is it possible to imagine society where nobody needs to work and earn a livelihood?” said Parekh.

Abbas had a collection of over 20,000 books at the library at his residence. Besides his deep interest in literature, the writer greatly appreciated good music as well. His daughter reminisced how her father had a strong inclination towards music and how he enjoyed playing various musical instruments including the guitar, violin, piano, flute and the mouth organ.

On the concluding note, Shera shared an anecdote from the past, one of the most precious memories she has with her father. “He’d often walk down Bundar Road and bargain at the bookshops. He was popularly known as Chachajee in the areas of Saddar and Nursery, where he inspected all kinds of books,” she revealed to the audience.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 31^st, 2014.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.